Harbor Freight Titanium Unlimited 200 behavior question

[rroy]

Anyone own one of these? If I set my wire feed speed around 80-90 IPM, when I press the trigger, a small amount of wire comes out and then stops. I have to release the trigger and then press it again for more wire. I would think that wire feed would be continuous but at a slow speed. Anyone else have this issue? Is it normal behavior for this welder?

 

[nyone]

Have you tryed welding with it?

 

[Roadworthy]

I am not familiar with that welder. When you press the trigger on a wire feed welder the wire should start coming out and continue until you release the trigger or turn off the welder. I don't know how long ago you bought the welder but Harbor Freight can't (or won't) fix any problems. There are unlikely to be any parts available. I have one of their welders which works just fine but if I need repair parts (and I have) eBay is my source. I won't purchase any more power tools from Harbor Freight unless they're cheap enough to throw away when they fail. Many of their hand tools seem fine.

 

[rangerfredbob]

I have one but it's been a while since I've used it, I'll try to hook it up this weekend and give it a shot and let you know...

 

[drysalty]

Some welders have a circuit that stops the wire feed if the wire isn’t actually making contact with ground. This is so it won’t feed out wire if you sit the gun down and the trigger gets pulled accidentally .

 

[rroy]

I have welded with it. When welding 3/16 material and the setting are something like 17v and 225 wire speed, it all works fine. Wire keeps coming out as long as I keep the trigger pressed. There's no circuit to stop it. How would you load the gun if it had such a circuit?

If you buy the Harbor Freight extended warranty, you can just bring the defective item back and they'll replace it, no-questions-asked. Something expensive like this welder, I did just that. So, if I don't find out if its normal behavior, I'll just exchange it for another one.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Check your tension on your drive rolls. It may be slipping at a low speed, or you may not have the correct wire size or type of drive roll.

 

[yomax4]

If it feeds a little and stops because you aren't starting the arc, That's a good thing. If it starts to weld and then the arc stops you may have a spot ot stitch timer turned on. None of the above? Take it back or pick a better brand. Good luck and report back.

 

[rroy]

Since I couldn't find an answer anywhere online, I exchanged the welder for another one and it worked the same way. So, it must be the way it works. I don't understand why but maybe it's some sort of safety feature. The lower the setting, the shorter the length of wire that comes out in one press. The higher the setting, the longer the length of wire that comes out. In either case, the wire doesn't continuously come out with one press of the trigger.

 

[TMGT]

I believe it's time related to not having the arc started. Since the wire feed is in IPM then the lower feed rate will have less stick out per trigger pull.